Okre and Ukie launch unified framework to better measure UK video games’ impact

• The UK games market hit a record £8.76 billion valuation in 2025 but lacks the research base to defend or grow that number.
• Third-party exploitation of game platforms is the fastest-growing and least-researched area of games impact.
• Games are already reshaping healthcare, education, fashion, film, and music, but no unified framework existed to measure how or why until now.

Charity firm Okre and UK games trade body Ukie have released a new report calling on the industry, government, and academia to close what they describe as a significant gap in understanding how games shape everyday life.

The report, Building a Unified Framework for UK Video Games Impacts, was supported by the BFI National Lottery Innovation Challenge and maps the sector's reach across healthcare, education, film, music, and fashion.

The report delivers five strands of work. It expands the sector's supply chain map to cover 50-plus sub-sectors, with an interactive visualisation showing how those actors connect. 

A unified theory of change framework traces games-related activities through to social and economic outcomes. 

Three anchor points structure how impact is generated across the sector, with third-party exploitation of game platforms flagged as the fastest-growing and least-researched area.

Impact frameworks

On the outcome side, initial social impact frameworks cover culture and society, health and wellbeing, and education and learning, giving researchers a shared structure to build evidence over time. 

An aligned economic framework tracks 66 measurable impact chains toward three core outcomes: GVA growth, employment, and tax revenue. A full econometric model is earmarked for future development.

Research gaps

Figures from Ukie show the UK video games market reached a record £8.76 billion ($11.8bn) valuation in 2025, yet Okre argues that public understanding of the sector's broader value has not kept pace with its growth. 

“Research is the games industry’s secret weapon in unlocking more support and growth," said Okre director Iain Dodgeon. “Continuing to build a fuller picture of its impact will unlock decisions about games innovation, policy support, partnerships and investment," said 

“That’s why we are calling on the UK games sector, to come together with academia and government and fill the crucial research gaps that our report has identified.”

Okie CEO Nick Poole commented: “This report should stand as a milestone in our understanding of the power and potential of video games.” 

“We need to move away from framing discussions about ‘good’ or ‘bad’ impacts of games, and this report sets up the industry to continue building a more sophisticated picture.”

You can access the full report here.